The Wild Dakotas (1956) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

Jim Davis is Aaron Baring, a man who’s been elected captain of a wagon train heading West and takes that job quite seriously.

He sets a rugged pace, determined to get the settlers to Powder Valley as soon as possible. And he wields a mean whip to keep everyone in line.

Of course, he’s got an ulterior motive. He plans to set himself up as boss man in the new settlement, and he doesn’t give a damn that the Arapahoe got to the land first.

In fact, that’s part of the reason he’s in such a hurry. There’s a cavalry patrol a half day’s ride behind the wagon train.

And he wants to keep the troopers close so they can jump in and do the fighting should there be problems with the Indians.

Jim Henry (Bill Williams) wants to keep that from happening. He’s friends with Arapahoe Chief Antelope and wants to negotiate an agreement between the Indians and settlers before they reach Powder Valley.

But Baring brands Henry a white renegade who’s planning to lead the wagon train into a trap. He has him tied to a wheel and whipped.

That bit of brutality costs him any chance at winning over Sue “Lucky” Duneen, a former dance hall queen who’s trying to lose the nickname and gain a fresh start out West.

Bill Williams as Jim Henry, warning Aaron Baring of the danger of barging onto Indian land with a wagon train in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Jim Davis as Aaron Baring, the hard-driving wagon train captain with ulterior motives in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Review:

Jim Davis does a good job of selling his role as a heartless wagon train boss who’s mostly interested in looking out for himself and won’t even permit a break in the trek West when a baby is born.

But there’s too much silliness for this film to exceed the limited expectations that come along with its B Western look.

One minute, Henry is unconscious under a wagon, recovering from his brutal whipping. The next, he’s leaping to his feet, his tattered shirt miraculously intact, exchanging punches with our villain.

“Lucky,” meanwhile, falls for Jim Henry, but is slower to warm up to his Arapahoe friends, shrieking in horror when the squaw surround her in order to check out her clothing.

Lisa Montell has a secondary role as Ruth Murphy, a pretty young woman in love with Mike McGeehee (Dickie Jones), another wagon train passenger.

And, apparently, she’s blessed with psychic powers and x-ray eyes in this film. At one point, she finds his cowboy hat lying on the ground and immediately knows poor Mike’s being held against his will and precisely which wagon he’s in.

Montell, who graced many a Western film or TV show with her dark-haired beauty, died in March (2023) at age 89.

Coleen Gray as Sue ‘Lucky’ Duneen, giving an Indian chief a piece of her mind in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Lisa Montell as Ruth Murphy, trying to charm one of Aaron Baring’s allies in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Directed by:
Sam Newfield

Cast:
Bill Williams … Jim Henry
Coleen Gray … Sue “Lucky” Duneen
Jim Davis … Aaron Baring
John Litel … Morgan Wheeler
Dickie Jones … Mike McGeehee
John Miljan … Antelope
Lisa Montell … Ruth Murphy
I. Stanford Jolley … Tabor
Wally Brown … McGrew
Iron Eyes Cody … Red Rock
Charles Soldani … Arrow
William Henry … Perkins
Billy Dix … Wagon scout

Runtime: 73 min.

Dickie Jones as Mike McGeehee, overhearing plans to start Indian trouble in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Arapahoe chiefs Red Rock (Iron Eyes Cody), Antelope (John Miljan) and Arrow (Charles Soldani) listen to Jim Henry’s plea for peace in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Memorable lines:

Capt. Aaron Baring: “You elected me to get you to Powder Valley. And I’ll do it if I have to drive every one of you like cattle.”
Sue: “Being an unreasoning bully doesn’t make a man big, Aaron. And that whip doesn’t make a good captain.”

Sue to Henry: “Being a messenger for a tribe of savages is hardly a place for a white man.”
Henry: “Traveling alone in the company of wagon emigrants is hardly a place for a lady, either.”
Sue: “What makes you think that I’m a lady? Or alone?
Henry: “When a man hasn’t seen a white woman for nearly a year, his eye is apt to be a little big sharper than most.”

Mike McGeehee, having arrived in the Indian camp, not realizing the chief understands English: “That’s an ornery looking bunch of devils.”

Jim Davis as Aaron Baring and William Henry as his sidekick Perkins, hatching their dastardly plans in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

John Litel as Morgan Wheeler and Coleen Gray as Sue ‘Lucky’ Duneen, listening to Aaron Baring’s orders to keep the wagon train moving in The Wild Dakotas (1956)

Arapahoe Chief Antelope of Aaron Baring: “Because his quills are many, this stupid porcupine thinks them longer than the hunter’s arrows. We have talked to a fool. It is useless.”

Perkins: “The cavalry, huh? You sure you can drag them into this?”
Capt. Aaron Baring: “We’re taxpayers, ain’t we? Why shouldn’t they do our shooting for us?”

Capt. Barings, of the Arapahoe: “I’ll talk to those devils when they’re all dead. And not before!”